It has been a long week of working in the woods cutting firewood and my new shooting range. A long week of not shooting everyday. [&o] I finally was back to where I wanted the range to end. There, at the back of the range,was a large Popular Tree there which was about 3' on the stump in size. I decided I had behaved so well all week working, I need to shoot the White Rifle. I was going into withdraws reading all these posts of everyone else shooting.

For those not aware, a Popular Tree is not a hard wood. It is a softer wood, but being a green tree does have a lot of strength.

I took some marking crayon red in color and made a 2.5-3 inch circle on the white bark trunk of the tree. From the 100 yard station with the White Rifle shooting 80 grains of Triple Se7en 3f, 2 -1/16th wonder wads, and a 460 grain NO EXCUSE CONICAL.

The two hits aimed at the RED DOT were side by side in the dot,looking at the outside of the tree. They actually travelled approximately 9 inches into the three, but took different paths as they travelled through the tree. I also shot a 200 grain Shockwave with 100 grains of Triple Se7en 3f under it. The 200 grain Shockwave travelled just under 5 inches into the tree.

The 460 grain No Excuse weighted 449.7 grains & 446.3 grains with an excellent mushroom pattern. The 449.7 grain conical expanded to 7/8th of an inch. The 446.3 grain expanded to 15/16ths of an inch which I was very impressed with. Just thinking of driving a hole that size through an animal would be most exciting. Also the degree of penetration was very impressive. I could see this conical making it a long distance through soft body tissue of a deer or elk.

The 200 grain Shockwave weighted 176.0 grains and flattened out to 3/4 of an inch which again was very impressive. It should be noted the Shockwave hit three inches higher then the large conicals.

I am not trying to compare the density of an animal to a tree by any means. All I wanted to see washow well the conicals held together. The Shockwave really impressed me holding together as well as it did. This Shockwave would really IMO make a good deer load.

All I really wanted to do was make an excuse for shooting the rifle and not working all day...

Pure lead holds together amazingly well, even in very tough tissue. That 460 grainer would be good for anything up to and including moose, IMHO.

Cayugad,
Where do you get the 460 gr. No excuses from? And what do they look like. Would you post a pic of one before shotting it. Thanks. I hear you talking about them often, wanted to see one before it was shot. Nice expansion and retention

http://members.aol.com/noexcusesb/page2.html

A fellow in Utah named Dave makes them. He does a beautiful job on them and Dave is a real pleasure to do business with as well. He also makes them for the .45 caliber.

In the .50 caliber they come in 460 & 495 grain weights. I have found you do not have to push this big chunk of lead all that hard to make it work for you.

I often times think of the old buffalo rifles in 45/70 caliber which normally (as I understand it and was toldto me)was a 405 grain .45 caliber projectile on top of 70 grains of powder. I think anyone that read any history of the old west and the buffalo hunters understand the range and killing potential of that cartridge. They made some impressive long range shots with these charges.

These No Excuse conicals and other large conicals I think work on the same principle. They throw a large chunk of lead, maybe not a break neck speed mind you like some of the sabot loads out there, but the conical thenrely on the energy of the projectile to do the work intended.

Cayugad, That is some good expanding. Have you ever shot the 535gr No Excuses in the 54cal? What were your results with accuracy?

no I never have. I have shot some 405 grain powerbelts in .54 caliberand they expand real well also...

Ive shot some 535 gr.NE in my .54 Thompson Firehawk with 100 gr. APP. Real accurate. I shot one into a soft hillside at about 40 yards and it expanded just like the onescayugad showed. I love these large conicals. I killed one doe with them. I hit her high in the back and it took out a part of her spine the size of a baseball. Dropped her in her tracks(spine shot) of course. Didnt recover bullet. I also use the .50 cal.495 gr. but no luck at getting any game with it yet. It is very accurate out of my Renegade kit rifle with 100 gr. APP. These bullets load easy and are accurate. The service from the guy who makes them is terrific. He will even send you the bullets first and bill you. He guarantees them too. From the siteCant beat that. Here is the link again http://members.aol.com/noexcusesb/index.htmlCheck em out.

You are the first person I have heard of who has been able to get big conicals to shoot well with APP. I tried 80,85,90,95, 100, 105 and 110 grains of loose APP and never got better than a 4-5 inch group at 50 yards with a no excuse 460 grain bullet. So, at least in my gun (an Omega), it doesn't appear to work well. Hopefully 777 will throw them better in my gun. Yes, I could get a refund, but I am still hoping to find the right combo to get them to shoot well.

I might have to get some for my 54cal and try them out some day.

I have had great luck with .50 cal 460 gr. No Excuses in my Omega. Shooting 90 gr. of Goex FFF gives 2-3 inch groups at 100 yds...If I do my part. I have tried Pyro, Pinnacle, 777 and BM3. None could match the accuracy of 3F blackpowder.

Great bullet...took a nice big doe at 45 yds. last fall...clean pass thru...massive wound channel. Highly recommend the NEC!